Shriners Hospital for Children Art Program

Works from Shriners art program on display at Crocker

By Uzra Khan      ukhan@sacbee.com

for compleet story go Sacbee, Thursday, Jul. 19, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 1D

Thursdays are Art Days at the school withinShriners Hospitals for Children Northern California.

It's a time for children to be creative despite spinal cord injuries, scars and disfigurement from burns and various orthopedic disabilities that limit mobility.


Elia Hernandez, left and Karla Ochoa, both 9 and from Mexico, compare art projects during class at Shriners Hospitals for Children Northern California in Sacramento. Artwork from earlier participants is on view at the Crocker Art Museum.channel the painter's style. 

With a book of Claude Monet's paintings on the classroom's central oval table, the childrenWith bright blue and yellow hues they create their own renditions of Monet's water lilies, with encouraging words from their teachers.

The walls of their sunny Sacramento classroom are covered with Picasso portraits and bright, abstract designs, pottery pieces and colorful butterflies – all testament to previous Art Day gatherings.

Missing from the colorful displays are more than 20 pieces that were created through a springtime collaboration with the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra.

Julian Dixon, director of education and community engagement and principal tuba of the Philharmonic, teamed with an art specialist and other musicians to provide a setting over the course of three months for Shriners patients to blend music with art.

"Music and art have the same vocabulary, and the art allows the kids the vocabulary to connect to the music," said Dixon.

As the children listened to works ranging from Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony to popular rock songsplayed on tuba, flute, harp or viola, they painted, their colors and patterns reflecting the sounds they heard.

"Many people think that classical music isn't for kids," said Dixon, who begs to differ.

He explained to his young students the parallels between blends of colors in art and blends of instruments in music.

The technique not only allowed the patients to learn about the music and the instruments, but also proved to be therapeutic.

"It was inspiring, the way the kids danced and moved to the music as they painted," said Margaret Kugler, teacher and vocational rehabilitation counselor at Shriners.